Bearings are commonly used to couple two bodies that rotate relative to each other. The design and maintenance of the bearings may be complicated when one or more of those bodies are subjected to lateral forces as well as rotational forces. For example, in the case of a helicopter rotor assembly, the rotors are rotationally mounted to the rotor hub to enable adjustment of rotor pitch to control vertical thrust. However, at the same time, rapid rotation of the rotors generates centrifugal forces and displacements axially along a rotational axis about which the pitch is adjusted. At the same time, upward and downward movement of the rotors and side-to-side movement of the rotors results in forces transverse to the rotational pitch axis.
The bearings used in a helicopter rotor assembly have to enable rotation to adjust rotor pitch while accounting for the axial and transverse stresses. Uneven bearing loading resulting from the axial and transverse stresses may be undesirable. As a result, bearings used in a helicopter rotor assembly generally employ multiple bearing elements and bearing surfaces in a sophisticated arrangement to enable rotor pitch rotation while distributing the axial and transverse loads. Unfortunately, such designs typically involve a significant number of parts which, in turn, results in added weight that may reduce vehicle efficiency and responsiveness. Such designs also may result in increased complexity in both the manufacture of and the maintenance of the helicopter rotor assembly, thereby increasing the cost of owning and operating the helicopter.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an apparatus and a method that overcomes one or more of the issues described above.